Many specialized terms and abbreviations are used in the communications arts. At least some of the following are referred to within the text that follows, such as in this background and/or the description sections. Thus, the following terms and abbreviations are herewith defined:                3GPP 3rd Generation Partnership Project        BSC Base Station Controller        BTS Base Transceiver Station        CDMA Code Division Multiple Access        CS Circuit Switch        CSCF Call/Session Control Function        EDGE Enhanced Data for GSM Evolution        eMLPP enhanced Multi-Level Precedence and Pre-emption        GETS Government Emergency Telecommunications System        GGSN Gateway GPRS Service Node        GPRS General Packet Radio Service        GSM Global System for Mobile Communications        HSPA High-Speed Packet Access        TETF Internet Engineering Task Force        IMS IP Multimedia Core Network Subsystem        IP Internet Protocol        IP-CAN IP-Connectivity Access Network        MMtel Multi-Media Fixed and Wireless Telephony        MS Mobile Station        MTAS Mobile Telephony Application Server        MGw Media Gateway        MSC Mobile Switching Center        MTSI Mobile Telephony Service for IMS        NGN Next Generation Network        Node B UMTS Base Station        P-CSCF Proxy CSCF        PDSN Packet Data Serving Node        PSTN Public Switched Telephone Network        QoS Quality of Service        RBS Radio Base Station        RNC Radio Network Controller        SGSN Serving GPRS Service Node        SIP Session Initiation Protocol        SS Subscriber Station        TIPHON Telecomm and IP Harmonization Over Networks        TISPAN TIPHON Services and Protocols for Advanced Networks        UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunications System        UE User Equipment        URI Uniform Resource Identifier        URL Uniform or Universal Resource Locator        VoIP Voice over Internet Protocol        WCDMA Wideband CDMA        WIMAX Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access        WPS Wireless Priority Service        
The availability of electronic communications is typically limited by a finite resource: the communications channel. With wireline communications, the number and bandwidth of individual transport media that have been created limit the overall size of the communications channel. With wireless communications, the finite nature of the electromagnetic spectrum, as well as governmentally-assigned portions thereof, limits the overall size of the communication channel.
Because communication channels are effectively a finite resource at any given moment, different communication connections may be assigned different priority statuses. For instance, a communication from an emergency responder should generally be given a higher priority status than a standard communication between two civilians. Thus, when the communications channel is congested, a communication connection from the emergency responder can be enabled instead of a civilian one due to its higher priority status.
The prioritization of communications by emergency responders can potentially save lives. Prioritization of communication connections can also be used for other purposes. For example, governmental entities in general may be given relatively higher priority levels. Connection prioritization can also be used to smooth bandwidth demands, enforce offered levels of QoS, and so forth.
One approach to implementing a priority system is the eMLPP scheme. An example eMLPP scheme is described, for example, in “3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification 24.067 V7.0.0, Group Core Network; enhanced Multi-Level Precedence and Pre-emption service (eMLPP)—Stage 3, Release 7 [2007-06]”. This document includes sections devoted to mobile originated calls, mobile terminated calls, called party preemption for mobile terminated calls, and group or broadcast calls for calling and called mobile stations. With Technical Specification 24.067, eMLPP can be implemented as a supplementary service.
Technical Specification 24.067 describes how calls can be established so as to enable prioritization of one connection over another. Moreover, it describes both precedence and preemption. From one perspective, precedence enables a higher priority connection to be granted one of a limited number of communication channels over a lower priority connection. Preemption, on the other hand, enables a higher priority connection to supplant an existing lower priority connection.
With precedence and preemption in accordance with eMLPP, for example, both society in general and individual users can prioritize communication connections. For instance, governmental entities that are responding to a disaster may be given precedence over other communication connections. Also, a parent may grant preemption rights to incoming calls from a babysitter over calls from friends.
Unfortunately, there is a deficiency in the foregoing state of the art with regard to accessibility of these precedence and preemption features in the context of eMLPP. Consequently, there is a need to address the accessibility deficiency. This deficiency and other needs are addressed by one or more of the various embodiments of the present invention.